MOFFETT Field is a valuable piece of property. It can benefit our regionaleconomy without degrading our quality of life. But it's a bad place to putan airport.
If the Mercury News had given the Moffett debate more regular coverage,the merits of various proposals for Moffett's future would be clearer. Theair cargo proposal has been dead for months. When, on Nov. 25, both theMountain View and Sunnyvale councils took unanimous positions against aircargo, they merely nailed the coffin shut.
The advisory committee majority that considered air cargo ``conditionallyacceptable'' had based its position on stringent conditions for noise mitigationwhich probably could not be met. And NASA has never had the statutory authorityto bring in the air cargo companies. That would have taken an act of Congress.
A more serious threat is general aviation. San Jose's airport wants toshift small planes to Moffett. Understandably, most of us who live nearMoffett fear the round-the-clock drone of small aircraft.
Neither NASA nor the Defense Department has much use for the Moffettairstrip. It's therefore likely that the federal government will declaremuch of the former Navy base surplus property in the not-too-distant future.The Federal Aviation Administration and its local collaborators suggestthat Moffett would automatically become an airport, but the General ServicesAdministration, which is responsible for federal property disposal, saysotherwise. If local communities come up with an alternative plan, it willbe seriously considered.
Moffett is not a good location for a civilian airfield. Its runways pointdirectly at a stable, heavily populated community. Its airspace is crammedbetween two major international airports.
However, Moffett can contribute to the economy, culture, and environmentof Silicon Valley. An air-and-space museum in the giant Hangar No. 1 lookslike a winner if someone can come up with a viable financial plan. Fourhundred acres of wetlands and adjacent uplands can be turned over to theDon Edwards Wildlife Refuge and opened to the public through the completionof the Bayfront Trail loop.
The north end of the runway can also be restored as natural wetlands,like Hamilton Field in Marin County. Much of the airfield is below sea level.The unique feature of Moffett, from a regional perspective, is not thatit has been covered with concrete or asphalt for 60 years, but that muchof it is historically part of the San Francisco Bay.
The conversion of Moffett can help mitigate Silicon Valley's twin problemsof housing costs and glacial commutes. Located at the region's employmentcenter astride major transportation routes, including the new light railcorridor, Moffett is ideally suited for medium-density residential neighborhoods.In fact, Silicon Valley business needs housing this side of Livermore morethan it needs a new airport.
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